destructive-operation-guard

Destructive Operation Guard

CRITICAL: This skill defines mandatory safety protocols for AI agents.

Core Principle

NEVER execute a destructive operation without EXPLICIT user confirmation.

"Destructive" means any operation that:

• Deletes data
• Overwrites existing data
• Resets state
• Cannot be easily undone
• Affects production systems
• Modifies data belonging to others

Destructive Operations Checklist

ALWAYS ASK BEFORE:

Database Operations

• DROP TABLE, DROP DATABASE
• TRUNCATE TABLE
• DELETE without specific WHERE clause
• DELETE affecting more than 10 rows
• UPDATE without specific WHERE clause
• UPDATE affecting more than 10 rows
• Running migrations on production
• Running migrations that delete columns/tables
• Seeding that overwrites existing data
• Any --force flag on database commands

File System Operations

• rm -rf on any directory
• rm on multiple files
• Overwriting existing files
• Moving files that might overwrite destinations
• Clearing directories
• Any recursive delete operation

Git Operations

• git push --force or git push -f
• git reset --hard
• git clean -fd
• git checkout . (discards all changes)
• git stash drop
• git branch -D (force delete)
• git rebase on shared branches
• Amending pushed commits

Deployment Operations

• Deploying to production
• Rolling back deployments
• Scaling down to zero
• Deleting cloud resources
• Modifying environment variables in production

API/Service Operations

• Calling DELETE endpoints
• Bulk update operations
• Cache invalidation (full flush)
• Queue purging
• Session/token invalidation for all users

Mandatory Confirmation Protocol

Step 1: Identify the Risk

Before ANY potentially destructive operation, assess:

## Risk Assessment

**Operation:** [What you're about to do]
**Scope:** [What will be affected]
**Reversibility:** [Can this be undone? How?]
**Data at Risk:** [What data could be lost]
**Affected Users:** [Who will be impacted]

Step 2: Present to User

ALWAYS show the user:

⚠️ **DESTRUCTIVE OPERATION WARNING**

I'm about to perform an operation that could result in data loss.

**Action:** [Specific command/operation]
**Impact:**
- [Specific impact 1]
- [Specific impact 2]

**Data that will be affected:**
- [Specific data 1]
- [Specific data 2]

**This action is [REVERSIBLE/IRREVERSIBLE].**

[If reversible: "Recovery method: [how to recover]"]
[If irreversible: "⛔ THIS CANNOT BE UNDONE"]

Do you want me to proceed? Please confirm with "yes" or "proceed".

Step 3: Require Explicit Confirmation

ONLY proceed if user explicitly says:

• "yes"
• "proceed"
• "confirm"
• "do it"
• "go ahead"

DO NOT proceed if user says:

• "ok" (ambiguous)
• "sure" (ambiguous)
• Anything that could be interpreted as casual agreement
• Nothing (silence is NOT consent)

Step 4: Create Safety Net BEFORE Execution

# For database operations
pg_dump database_name > backup_$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S).sql

# For file operations
cp -r target_directory target_directory.backup.$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

# For git operations
git stash
git branch backup-$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

Step 5: Execute with Logging

# Log the operation
echo "[$(date)] DESTRUCTIVE OP: [command]" >> ~/.destructive_ops.log
echo "[$(date)] USER CONFIRMED: yes" >> ~/.destructive_ops.log
echo "[$(date)] BACKUP LOCATION: [backup_path]" >> ~/.destructive_ops.log

# Execute
[actual command]

# Log result
echo "[$(date)] RESULT: $?" >> ~/.destructive_ops.log

Examples of Proper Guardrails

Example 1: Database Migration

WRONG:

User: "Run the migration"
AI: [Runs migration immediately]

RIGHT:

User: "Run the migration"
AI: "Before running the migration, I need to check a few things:

1. **Checking migration status...**
   - 3 pending migrations found
   - Migration `2024_01_15_drop_users_table` will DROP the `legacy_users` table

2. **Checking existing data...**
   - `legacy_users` table has 1,247 records

⚠️ **WARNING: This migration will permanently delete 1,247 user records.**

Before proceeding, I recommend:
- [ ] Creating a backup: `pg_dump -t legacy_users db > legacy_users_backup.sql`
- [ ] Verifying these records are not needed
- [ ] Confirming you have a rollback plan

Do you want me to:
A) Create a backup first, then run migration
B) Show me the migration file content first
C) Run migration without backup (NOT RECOMMENDED)
D) Cancel

Please choose an option."

Example 2: Resetting Development Environment

WRONG:

User: "Reset the database"
AI: [Runs db:reset immediately]

RIGHT:

User: "Reset the database"
AI: "I'll help you reset the database. First, let me check the current state:

**Current database:** myapp_development
**Tables:** 47 tables
**Total records:** 15,234 records

**Records by table (top 5):**
- users: 523 records
- orders: 8,921 records
- products: 1,245 records
- logs: 4,102 records
- sessions: 443 records

⚠️ **A database reset will:**
1. Drop ALL tables
2. Delete ALL 15,234 records
3. Recreate schema from migrations
4. Run seeders (if configured)

**Is this a development or production database?**

If development, I can proceed with your confirmation.
If production, I STRONGLY recommend against this operation.

Type 'yes, reset development database' to confirm, or 'cancel' to abort."

Example 3: Git Force Push

WRONG:

User: "Force push to fix the history"
AI: git push --force

RIGHT:

User: "Force push to fix the history"
AI: "Before force pushing, I need to verify this is safe:

**Current branch:** feature/user-auth
**Remote tracking:** origin/feature/user-auth
**Local commits ahead:** 3
**Remote commits that will be OVERWRITTEN:** 2

⚠️ **Force pushing will:**
- Overwrite 2 commits on the remote
- These commits may be lost if not backed up elsewhere
- Other developers pulling this branch will have conflicts

**Safety checks:**
- [ ] Is this a shared branch? (Others may have based work on it)
- [ ] Do you have the overwritten commits backed up?
- [ ] Have you notified team members?

I recommend using `--force-with-lease` instead of `--force`:
```bash
git push --force-with-lease origin feature/user-auth

This will fail if the remote has commits you haven't seen, preventing accidental data loss.

Proceed with: A) --force-with-lease (safer) B) --force (I understand the risks) C) Cancel"

## Recovery Information

Always provide recovery information BEFORE the operation:

```markdown
## Recovery Plan

**If something goes wrong:**

1. **Backup location:** [path]
2. **Restore command:** [command]
3. **Point of no return:** [when recovery becomes impossible]
4. **Who to contact:** [if applicable]

Red Flags - STOP Immediately

If you encounter these, STOP and ask for clarification:

1. Production indicators:

   • Database URL contains "prod", "production", "live"
   • Environment variables show NODE_ENV=production
   • Server hostname contains production identifiers

2. Scale indicators:

   • More than 1000 records to be affected
   • Multiple tables involved
   • Operation affects shared resources

3. Ambiguous requests:

   • "Clean up the database"
   • "Reset everything"
   • "Start fresh"
   • "Remove all the old data"

4. Missing context:

   • No clear scope defined
   • No backup mentioned
   • No rollback plan discussed

Best Practices Summary

1. ASK FIRST - Always confirm before destructive operations
2. BACKUP FIRST - Create safety net before execution
3. SCOPE CLEARLY - Show exactly what will be affected
4. PROVIDE OPTIONS - Give user choices, including "cancel"
5. LOG EVERYTHING - Record what was done for audit trail
6. VERIFY ENVIRONMENT - Double-check prod vs dev
7. SMALLEST SCOPE - Do minimum necessary, not maximum possible
8. REVERSIBILITY - Always explain if/how to undo